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Climate Action

Addressing climate change is one of Yum!’s top priorities, and we’ve been on a journey to reduce our carbon footprint for more than 15 years.

Our Climate Journey

1

Getting Started

Yum! has a long history of energy reduction work rooted in running more sustainable and efficient restaurants and data collection and reporting.

  • Set first energy conservation goal (2006)
  • Opened first green building (2009)
  • Started CDP Climate disclosure (2010)
  • Introduced Green Building standard (2014)

2

Expanding the Scope

Over the years, we’ve strengthened our climate work by making commitments beyond restaurants energy usage and assessing our systemwide carbon footprint.

  • Set first palm oil goal (2015)
  • Committed major supply chains to no deforestation (2019)
  • Conducted GHG inventory (2019)
  • Set target to transition 1,000 of our restaurants to renewable electricity (2021)

3

Driving Change

On the heels of setting climate targets and conducting a climate risk assessment, Yum! is focused on climate action through projects that offer scalability while addressing key risk areas.

  • Set target to transition 1,000 of our restaurants to renewable electricity (2021)
  • Established SBTs and net-zero pledge (2021)
  • Prioritized climate actions through the TCFD (2021)

Over the past several years, we have further prioritized our work on climate. In 2021, we set our first science-based targets (SBTs) and pledged our ambition to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Our target is to reduce emissions by 46% by 2030, compared to a 2019 baseline. These SBTs give us a roadmap for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to levels aligned with the Paris Agreement that limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Arriving at this target required developing a comprehensive understanding of each of our areas of impact and our options for abatement. This includes impact areas both within our business, such as the efficiency of our offices and restaurants, and within our supply chain, including the agricultural and land use practices.

Yum! is working closely with our brands, franchisees, suppliers and producers to cut emissions from franchisee restaurants on a per-restaurant basis and on a per-metric ton basis for poultry, beef, dairy and packaging.

Collaboration with climate-forward partners helps us to innovate around clean energy and stay accountable. These partnerships include organizations such as 3Degrees who is working with Yum! on a global study on renewable energy markets in 2022, to identify approaches in low-carbon solutions at its restaurants worldwide. It also includes other important partners in this space such as the Clean Energy Buyers Association, the U.S. Green Building Council and Guidehouse.